“There is such unadulterated beauty in Cabo,” says Pauline Martinez, owner of Perk Eatery and CHAR Kitchen+Bar in Scottsdale. Martinez visited the Baja California city with her husband this summer to draw inspiration from their culinary traditions to bring back to her restaurants – as well as to kick back a little and enjoy the view. “There’s this big juxtaposition between this party scene and this...rich beauty that is so natural,” she says. And Cabo's seafood, she adds, is delicious. Her recommendations for making the most out of this lively tourist magnet:

Not content to be just a pit stop between Phoenix and Tucson, Casa Grande has been making strides toward becoming a destination in its own right. To wit: three new attractions keeping locals and visitors busy.

It’s almost the most bone-chilling time of the year, and there’s no better way to kick off October than with some ghost hunting.

In addition to faux haunted homes and fear farms in every corner of the Valley leading up to Halloween, Arizona also has plenty of reportedly haunted historic places to whet the appetites of paranormal enthusiasts and urban explorers alike. Test your mettle beyond artificial haunted houses starring high schoolers dressed up like killer clowns — here are some ghost hunts for those brave souls wanting to stare down something a little less cheesy and a little more real.

On Monday, August 21, North America will see its first total solar eclipse in 38 years. The moon will come between the Earth and the sun, blocking the big fiery star from view (although protective eyewear is still required for safe viewing). The path of the eclipse will slope diagonally downward across 14 U.S. states, beginning at Lincoln Beach, Oregon and ending near Charleston, South Carolina.

Arizona isn’t on the total eclipse curve, unfortunately, but we can still expect some partial eclipse action. Meteorologists say peak viewing time is at 10:33 a.m. Let’s celebrate, (natural) black out style.

Party Planetarium StyleTempe, Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff

Several locations throughout the state will be hosting viewing-parties for the big event. In Tempe, Arizona State University will host events from 9 a.m. to noon at the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 4 and on Hayden Lawn. Experts will be available, telescopes will be set up and protective glasses will be provided to the first 2,000 attendees. For more info, visit asuevents.asu.edu.

In Phoenix, the Arizona Science Center’s viewing-party will kick off at 8:30 a.m. and conclude at noon. Protective glasses will be provided for the first 500 guests, and there will be rocket launches, eclipse-related crafts, food, planetarium shows and more. For ticket information, visit azscience.org.

In Tucson, University of Arizona will have a three-day celebration from August 18-21. The festivities will include "Create Your Own Pinhole Viewer" stations and showings of Tucson Sky and Beyond: Eclipse Edition. Protective glasses will be available for purchase. For more information, visit flandrau.org.

In Flagstaff, Lowell Observatory will open early at 8 a.m. and have a livestream from their experts in Madras, Oregon, the optimal location for viewing the eclipse. Telescopes will be set up for viewing in Flagstaff as well. For more information, visit lowellsolareclipse.com.

Grab Your GlassesMultiple locations

Libraries throughout the U.S. have received protective solar glasses from STAR_Net to help the community view the eclipse safely. Glasses-carrying libraries throughout the state include North Valley Regional Library, Northwest Regional Library, El Mirage Library, White Tank Library. Buckeye, Public Library – Coyote Branch, Goodyear Library, Salt River Tribal Library, Apache Junction Public Library, Pinal County Library District- Coolidge Public Library, Maricopa Public Library and Ak-Chin Indian Community Library.

For a “cooler” eclipse look, all Warby Parker locations are providing free solar viewing glasses, now until August 21. For more information, visit warbyparker.com.

Black Out, Snack OutSprinkles, Scottsdale

From August 19-21, Sprinkles cupcakes on Scottsdale and Camelback roads will have an ode to the eclipse with its “black out” dark chocolate cupcake, not that we’ve ever needed a meteorological wonder to convince us it’s time for cake.

As editors of a city lifestyle magazine with a travel section that covers locales far beyond our beloved Phoenix Valley, you can imagine that we get pitched A TON about new and exciting travel offers around the country. Of course, we can't fit everything into a 200 page monthly magazine that only allots five of those pages to regional travel. Sigh... 'tis the nature of publishing.

But it pains us too much to kill all of our darlings. So each month, we scrape a few travel tidbits off the cutting room floor and bring you Travel Bag Bites – bite-sized travel-related goodies (special offers, activities and deals) to snack on while planning your next great escape.

From its early days as a railway shipping point in the 1880s to its modern status as a “highway city” southeast of Tucson aiming to draw more tourists, Benson has had quite a ride. Three new developments are making Arizona travelers take note.

"We ate at 35 places in three days," Valley super chef Bernie Kantak (The Gladly, Citizen Public House) says of his recent Seattle excursion with Little Miss BBQ pit-master Scott Holmes. He says it with a faint, rueful chuckle. Translation: Yes, we made pigs of ourselves... but we learned so much.

Fast friends after cooking together at the James Beard House in New York City last year, the duo promised to do a culinary R&D trip in 2017. Ultimately, the settled on Seattle. And planned it on the fly.

As editors of a city lifestyle magazine with a travel section that covers locales far beyond our beloved Phoenix Valley, you can imagine that we get pitched A TON about new and exciting travel offers around the country. Of course, we can't fit everything into a 200 page monthly magazine that only allots five of those pages to regional travel. Sigh... 'tis the nature of publishing.

But it pains us too much to kill all of our darlings. So each month, we scrape a few travel tidbits off the cutting room floor and bring you Travel Bag Bites – bite-sized travel-related goodies (special offers, activities and deals) to snack on while planning your next great escape.

"Any time that I'm traveling, I always try to glean as much perspective as I can from other chefs and what they're doing," says Christopher Brugman, chef de cuisine at Hearth '61 at the new Mountain Shadows resort in Paradise Valley.

Visiting his sister in Atlanta last fall, the chef mixed business with pleasure. "[Atlanta has] a really eclectic food scene. There are three [restaurants] that really set it off for me as far as excitement, and thoughtfulness, and playfulness, and uniqueness of represntation of how they dine and how their hospitality is different."

In May, online Travel company Trivago named Kingman No. 5 on its list of the top 10 emerging travel destination in the United States. We poked around to see what's new and newsworthy in "The Heart of Historic Route 66."

Last year, on June 19, Phoenix broke a daily heat record reaching 118 degrees, killing four hikers in the Phoenix and Tucson area. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a singular incident. Phoenix weather routinely tops a scorching 110 degrees in the summer. Yet people continue to think they can handle hiking around the Valley despite the heat, especially, it seems, Camelback Mountain – the Phoenix hiking trail equivalent of L.A.’s Runyon Canyon in terms of popularity, but with steep ascents and tricky switchbacks over unforgiving desert landscape. It seems there’s always a helicopter rescue or five every year. Don’t forget who pays for those rescues… us, taxpayers.

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